Happy 100-th birthday to the King of Cartoons!
I already wanted to make a post about this cartoon earlier in the month, but today seems to be a good occasion to do it.
SH-H-H-H-H-H is Tex Avery's last theatrical cartoon, produced during his brief return to Walter Lantz studio, where he began his career 25 years earlier, working on
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Despite the low budgets, inferior animators and soundtrack (compared to his MGM films), Avery created an extraordinary and slightly disturbing cartoon. At the same time, it's for me a very sad cartoon to watch, because it gives me the similar feeling like listening to the last Beatles recordings - it marks the end of the brilliant and groundbreaking career that finished prematurely.
Enjoy these screenshots from
SH-H-H-H-H-H, the final statement from one of the greatest and most innovative artists of the 20th century.
Happy Birthday Tex, and thank you for the legacy of laughter!
Here are the other Tex Avery cartoons featured on this blog so far (with promise of much more to come next month):
Miss Glory (1936)
The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1937)
The Little Red Walking Hood (1937)
All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)
Crazy Cruise (1942)
Blitz Wolf (1942)
Screwball Squirrel (1944)
Garden Gopher (1950)
Droopy DVD collection
And take a look at this nice tribute to Tex by David Germain:
David Germain's tribute to Tex Avery
David made a funny comic that features Avery (and the other two of the greatest cartoon directors), and also set up a wonderful collection of links to the large quantity of complete Tex Avery cartoons. Don't miss it!
I've been re-watching many of the all-time great HANNA-BARBERA classic cartoons, including the theme of this posting...PETER POTAMUS and SO-SO. The top image appears to be a 1964 publicity painting for the PETER POTAMUS TV cartoon show. I'm not sure who painted it, but it's a very cool painting. I'd love to see that in color! Also, here's the colorful cover for the 1964 PETER POTAMUS Little Golden Book, with art by Hawley Pratt and Bill Lorencz. I'm also posting a few pieces of PETER POTAMUS and SO-SO character art from their 1998 licensing style guide. I had the honor of inking Iwao Takamoto's PETER POTAMUS and SO-SO pencil art for that style guide, which was produced at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Be sure to click on each image for a larger view!
